Kittens Ablaze
January 3, 2010 · Print This Article
Kittens Ablaze initially grabbed my attention with their song, “This Machine Is Dying.” Not only did the title carry a powerful social message, but the start of the song brought early Rancid to mind, only to elegantly introduce cello that led the song into a softer, albeit strong, almost anthem-like folk melody that presents the ultimate question, “What the hell do we do?” The song roused my curiosity and intense interest in this Brooklyn band that not only considers our role in the world vital, but makes stunning, folk-tinged indie rock with an impressive ability to get you dancing, but also thinking.
Kittens Ablaze is comprised of an intelligent five-man and woman creative team, including vocalist on drums, Tim Spellman, Grant Rafter on guitar, Nick Dalton behind bass, and the string section, Jenny Bress (violin) and Michelle Young (cello). The influences of the band are clearly diverse, as listening to the songs on their debut album, The Monstrous Vanguard, demonstrate. There are subtle elements of punk intermixed with an Americana spirit and a dance-rock backbone enhanced by graceful violin and cello riffs that bring in a classical tone. Collectively, the band has many points of reference from which to create, with many of the members pursuing graduate degrees, law degrees, becoming affiliated with worldwide humanitarian projects or political campaigning, and traveling the world extensively.
Kittens Ablaze cellist, Michelle Young offered up some revealing and thoughtful responses to help us become better acquainted with this exalting band on the horizon. She describes the formation of the band, which illuminates the reason for such a diverse sound:
Guitarist, Grant, and Nick the bassist, grew up together in Maine and got into punk and hardcore in high school. Tim (drums/vocals) and the original electric guitar player started playing together in college, experimenting with bleeps, bloops, and analog instruments, and later moving to New York. Jenny (violin) was trained in the Suzuki method and can chop a violin in half with one swipe in mid air. She played in a few indie bands, before she met Tim. Michelle played cello at Juilliard before college and never imagined she’d be in an indie rock band. The group randomly met Michelle in a pool, through a mutual friend. The crew became friends, and one day decided to make a band. Grant showed up on the first day of practice and declared that he was in, too (“Let’s do this, fools”). The guys enrolled Michelle in the band without consulting her. Tim somehow convinced Jenny to play with them (there may have been cupcakes involved). In time, Nick landed in New York (by way of Honolulu) and rounded out the formation of Kittens Ablaze.
The band name, Kittens Ablaze, brings to mind images of cats burning on the stake or fire explosions accompanied by incessant meowing. So, I had to ask, what is the story behind the band’s name?
Like everything with us, with so many personalities, we almost never agree. The band name was no exception. There were literally hundreds of names emailed back and forth each day. Less than a month after we got together, we went into the studio to create an EP. The producer came out and was like, “Guys, I need to label your tracks with SOMETHING. Give me a band name.” That day we had been laughing about “Kittens Ablaze,” which was a euphemism. And it just stuck. For the record, we actually love cats – Jenny and Nick are both proud cat owners.
Considering that my interest in the band arose from a song with an implicit social message, I wanted to better understand the social motive behind the band’s music and what kind of themes they strive to present in their songs:
Nothing we write is overtly pedagogical, but we are definitely responding to and questioning what is going on around us. I think we recognize that members of our generation have been blessed with a lot of opportunity, but we also see a mandate to make a difference in this world. If you think about it, our parents’ generation was about exploring new-found freedoms and establishing a life for themselves and their children. Things we take for granted—civil rights for minorities and women, the idea of home-ownership (through mortgages), a culture of consumption, and for my immigrant parents, a life not under military rule—are post WWII developments. So of course, our generation is both a reaction and an expansion of those sentiments.
We are a generation in transition—we have the work ethic of our parents, but have also been told that we should take the opportunities given to us and do something “great.” But what does that mean, especially as we become further disconnected from what once made America the land of opportunity? Tim sees this in recurring themes of existential dread, social change and general uncertainty about the future, both our own and the world’s in general. I think that’s why our band travels and searches for public service roles – perhaps it’s utopian or rooted in a nostalgia for a time we never knew. I think the lyric “What the hell do we do?” from our song “This Machine is Dying,” which Grant wrote while working on Katrina relief, captures it.
Ohmyrockness has also described us as “rousingly joyful,” and I think that identifies the ultimate hope in our music, despite any sense of loss or uncertainty. The fact that we all found each other, despite very different backgrounds, personalities, and day-jobs, and can see eye-to-eye on a creative level, is reinforcement enough that perhaps music can transcend differences, even if in a small way. We can’t think of a better way to live through our 20’s besides writing music, performing rowdy shows, and living full lives at the same time.
Kittens Ablaze stay on the road and stage quite a bit, so I inquired into which were some of the most memorable show experiences for the band:
1. SXSW 2009 Showcase, where I destroyed a cello (the clip is on youtube). The crowd there was amazing, and when we saw people crowding the staircase to watch us, we knew it was an awesome show.
2. Bowery Ballroom October 2009 - it had been a dream of ours to play there since the beginning. I’m an urban planning/architecture major and there really is something about that space that leads to incredible live shows.
3. Shows on tour, where there’s always something going wrong. My favorite memory is Charlotte, NC. The night before our gig in Charlotte, we played in Richmond, but only Tim and I made it – a car broke down, flights were delayed, it was like coordinating Normandy. By the next day, we were so excited to see each other that the energy was amazing. The keyboard broke down, and Nate pulled out his parts on an accordion, learning it in the parking lot of the Milestone.
Our live shows are generally pretty wild – but I like how we can traverse between DIY shows and large venues on the flip of a dime.
What has been the most instrumental factor in keeping up the creative process of Kittens Ablaze?
We’ve played almost 60 shows this year and spent a good deal of it on the road. Simultaneously, our personal lives have become way more hectic than when we first started the band. So, I think what has been important is to pare down. An example would be impromptu acoustic jam sessions with instruments that are not our own. These generally happen in our van, in motel parking lots, late nights in apartments with accordions, banjos, kazoos, washboards, etc. We have some amazing rap songs that have yet to be recorded.
With each member coming from diverse musical backgrounds, how is the songwriting accomplished?
It varies. Sometimes we sit together in our practice space and create a song out of nothing. Sometimes, one person comes in with a complete thought and together we write out the parts. Typically the music comes first, and we write lyrics that support and describe the sounds and emotions we’re getting out of the instruments. With so many personalities and divergent opinions, when we all agree on something, we know it’s good.
Kittens Ablaze present inspiring and outstanding indie rock, so naturally I wondered what inspires the band musically:
I think it’s the stuff that’s happening in our daily lives. We’ve got our day to day: Tim’s a PhD candidate in neuroscience at Columbia, Jenny’s going for her masters in psychology, I’m going for a masters in urban planning, and I run a website called untappednewyork.com, Grant wrote for a magazine and is now going to law school, Nick’s an artist (who did our album cover). When the band first started, I was working as a buyer for Calvin Klein and I was like, “this scene is too crazy.” Some would probably argue that my life now is even crazier, but what matters is the journey to find what resonates.
We all love to travel – in 2008, I backpacked through Southeast Asia, including Papua New Guinea. This summer, I did relief work in the earthquake zone in Peru, and then backpacked through Peru, Bolivia and Brazil with friends including Tim and Jenny. I’m headed to the earthquake zone in Sumatra this January with Hands on Disaster Relief, and then to Paris for the semester. Grant had his 7-month sailing trip, and is headed to Southeast Asia this January. Tim and Grant have campaigned out West for the Democrats over the last two elections, and Grant worked on Katrina relief in Biloxi. Our old guitar player is probably the original wanderer (and an extreme skier!), definitely inspiring me to figure out what I wanted out of my life. We travel, but we’re living out of one backpack for months and searching for different types of experiences.
Kittens Ablaze isn’t just another band from Brooklyn. However, I wondered what is the best/worst part about being a band from one of the most musician-infested cities in the country, all vying for attention?
There aren’t too many bad parts, actually. We’ve found this niche where we can traverse many different scenes here, and we’ve been lucky to work with awesome local bands, promoters and media who have really helped us find our way. I’m always amazed at how much independent creativity is going on in New York in terms of getting music out there, whether it’s a new DIY festival, bands taking over subways and public spaces, or people throwing shows in their backyards. We started by peddling a 5-track CD to bars in the LES, who told us – guys, just send us your myspace. We were like oh…internet, interesting concept. But we kept that mentality of conceptualizing New York as a city where you can make your own destiny—the opportunities are out there if you are persistent and creative about it.
If I had to pick a worst, it’s only when people start treating their endeavors as some kind of personal aggrandizement and close themselves off to new music and genres, but its rare here.
Kittens Ablaze just completed a Midwest tour in November and are currently working on a 7” to be released sometime in 2010, which will be followed by another full length release by the end of the year. Look for them once more at SXSW and will likely be taking the stage again at NXNE, as well. The band can’t sit still long, so they plan to “throw a tour in there” as well. Michelle sums up the band’s hope for the next year, “It’s definitely going to be a year in transition, musically and personally. I think that’s going to be great for the writing of our sophomore album. We spent the last year touring and promoting – I’m hoping we can get back to why we started this band in the first place: the music. So right now, I guess I’m leaving gifts for Apollo.”
www.myspace.com/kittensablaze
www.kittensablaze.com
Nadia Lelutiu, Indie Editor
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